


Take Me By The Hand

by SykoShadowRose



Series: Love and Care Together [4]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Character Growth, Established Relationship, Expanding on Semblances, F/F, F/M, Family Bonding, Family of Choice, M/M, past canonical character death, remembering the past, supportive family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-23
Updated: 2020-07-23
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25460842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SykoShadowRose/pseuds/SykoShadowRose
Summary: Weiss learns a few new tricks, Qrow ups the ante in their Glass training, and Yang gains a new perspective.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna/Yang Xiao Long, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Penny Polendina/Ruby Rose/Weiss Schnee, Qrow Branwen/Clover Ebi
Series: Love and Care Together [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1676347
Comments: 16
Kudos: 71





	Take Me By The Hand

Wiess slowly released the deep breath she’d been holding, turning all her focus to the spinning glyph glowing on the ground in front of her. If she could just refine her technique the way she needed to… 

_“Your technique still has those maddening sloppy touches…”_

She focused on the imperfections in her casting, bringing them into sharp focus in her mind. Winter wasn’t here with her this time. No, there was another standing behind her. Silent and watchful without any real judgement. Ready to step in if she really needed it. 

_“But you’ve managed to make it work for you.”_

Another deep breath. She brought Myrtenaster up, holding it in front of her. The steady presence at her back was reassuring, despite the dangers, allowing her to truly give it her all. 

_“You’ve made them your own.”_

The glyph spun faster, the glow became brighter. The huntress split her attention to the dust in her rapier’s chambers. If she could do this… She’d make it her own in a way no one else in her family ever had. 

_“Hey snow angel. I got a question for you…”_

She had it set to gravity, figuring it may cause the least amount of collateral damage if she did this wrong.

_“You ever think about trying to weave a dust glyph with a summoning glyph to summon a dust creature?”_

The answer to that question had been no. She hadn’t thought of it. Didn’t think anyone ever had before him. But she was determined to do it now. To be the first (if not only) Schnee to combine the two glyphs. 

_“Your sister calls it sloppy. I call it room to improvise.”_

Weiss began working the gravity glyph through the spaces in her summoning glyph, muscles tightening with the effort of keeping her focus. Weapon calloused hands gently dropped onto her shoulders. She’d been so focused, she hadn’t noticed him moving closer. 

“Ease up Princess. This is gonna drain your aura enough as it is. Don’t make it worse.” 

Drawing in a deep breath, she forced her muscles to relax, subtly leaning back into the strong grip. She felt him shift just slightly, enough that she knew she could lean all her weight back and he’d keep her up without her budging at all. Knowing that Qrow would catch her if she fell (literally and figuratively) was a huge help. With him acting as an anchor she was able to finish weaving the two glyphs together. Weiss went through a mental list of all her summons and chose one she hoped wouldn’t be too damaging if things went wrong.

Opening her eyes, she watched as a batorusk rose out of the spinning glyph. It was still white, as all summoned creatures were, but it had the black glow of gravity dust around it. The creature charged at a nearby tower that should have been too strong for it to take out and knocked the whole thing down without being slowed at all. Weiss dismissed the beast after the task was completed and put her weapon away. The former heiress allowed herself a giddy smile at the success, slumping back into the man behind her. (She couldn’t help imagining her sister’s face when she saw it.) His arms came around her shoulders in a hug as he held her up. She lifted her own arms to lightly grip his wrists, holding him in place, taking in the warmth (physical and emotional) that he offered so freely. 

“Great job Princess. I’m proud of you.” 

There was so much affection in his voice with the praise. So different from her mother or even her sister. And definitely nothing like her father. If this was what Ruby grew up with, it was no wonder the girl was the way she was. Weiss blinked back a few tears, refusing to be brought down by a few gentle words, but she did turn into his embrace so she could return it.

“ _Thank you…_ ” The words felt horribly inadequate but there were all she had and he didn’t seem to mind at all. She felt the soft press of a kiss to her temple and closed her eyes, allowing herself to hold on to the feeling of family she got from just being with Qrow and her friends. She may not have had it growing up like Ruby or Yang but she had it now. She had no desire to lose it to anyone. Not even a wanna-be goddess. She would fight to keep the family she’d gained and with their help, she would become strong enough to help bring Salem down. 

~*~

It was strange, Qrow thought as he twisted away from the slashing claws of a sabyr, how many things had come to his attention after he stopped drinking. The most important at the moment being his aura. He hadn't realized that his drinking had affected his aura so drastically. He hadn't known that his aura had adapted to fight the damage the alcohol was trying to inflict on him internally. That his aura was constantly being drained as it tried to keep him alive against the toxic liquid he continuously ingested. That the continuous use of his aura was part of the reason his semblance had been so active constantly. Though… 

Drinking had been a mixed blessing in a way.

On one hand, the alteration to his aura had allowed his body to fight off Tyrian's poison. Given the kids the time they needed to get him help. It was even possible that he could have eventually survived it even without the antidote. 

On the other hand, he’d lost _a lot_ of things to his drinking. Time with his family, more than anything. 

The point at the present was that without his constant drinking, his semblance was less active and he had more aura for battle. Which is what he needed as he took a solid hit from another sabyr that had sprung out of nowhere to leap attack him. He rolled with the attack, getting back up on his feet, ready to defend but the sabyr was gone. A quick glance showed it being pulled away by a familiar line and he smiled. Clover didn’t have to guard him but it was nice to know someone had his back again after so many years of fighting solo. Something white, glowing red, slammed into the sabyr and Qrow smiled knowing Weiss was getting better with her dust creature summons. It reminded him a bit of how STRQ had operated years ago, watching each other’s back in combat. Brief memories of his team back at the academy reminded him he needed to ask the Captain for a tiny, little favor (and some truffles) when they got back to Atlas… 

~*~

James was walking with Winter and the Ace-Ops, planning a briefing over an unofficial plan for how they could help keep things calm and safe during the upcoming elections. (The fact that it was unofficial was the only reason he wasn’t upset by Clover missing it, though he did wonder where his Captain had gone.) He had asked the newest additions to join them if they had the time so that he could hear whatever ideas they may have. (With no response from Qrow…) The tall man expected some rather crazy ideas from the teenagers but a couple had fairly level heads and might have a decent plan or two to work with. And even the crazy ideas shouldn’t be dismissed easily. RWBY and JNPR’s initiation fight proved that as a fact. The relative quiet of the halls was suddenly shattered, bringing them to a halt as they tried to figure out what was going on.

_“AHAHAHA! I’M QUEEN OF THE CAST-LE! I’M QUEEN OF THE CAST-LE!”_

_“JUSTICE WILL BE SWIFT! JUSTICE WILL BE PAINFUL! IT WILL BE DELICIOUS!”_

_**“YEAH!”** _

_“OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!”_

James blinked in confusion as the former students that had been walking in their direction to join the meeting froze at the shouts echoing through the halls, becoming even more confused when they bolted towards what they believed to be the source instead of to the meeting room where they had originally been going. Winter huffed at their behavior while Marrow and Penny sprinted off to follow, earning an amused, put-upon sigh from Harriet and a giggle from Elm. Vine, he noticed, had tipped his head slightly, seeming just as bewildered as he was. The adults managed to catch up with the group in the Academy’s empty auditorium (that had apparently been converted into a temporary personal theater). The Beacon hunters had stopped just inside, staring with wide, teary eyes at the scene projected on the screen. The General recognized what he was certain was Beacon’s cafeteria, though he’d never before seen it in such disarray as the two teams on the screen fought each other using whatever foods they happened to pick up.

“So that’s her then?” A soft voice asked, bringing attention to the audience of two sitting near the center of the room. Clover was reclined in a seat, his feet resting on the top of the chair in front of him. Qrow was leaning against his shoulder while they watched the chaos unfold. 

“Yea. Pyrrha Nikos. Her semblance had been Polarity.” On screen the red-head was fighting Blake with bread sticks. “Thanks for doing this by the way. Now that we know it works I can share it with the kids.” The slender hunter curled a bit more in his chair, pulling his legs up under him.

“It was no trouble.” Pyrrha was directing the cans to attack Blake while she tried to flip away. “It was lucky you got the video from the surveillance camera before everything went wrong.” Clover laughed quietly as Qrow nailed his arm with a playful punch for having the audacity to call him _lucky_ again. Weiss slammed into a pillar and fell into Ruby’s arms.

 _“Weiss! Weiss! Don’t leave me! NOOOOOO!”_

“Uh-oh. That’s not gonna end well is it?” 

“Not in the slightest.” Clover could _hear_ the devilish smirk in Qrow’s voice as Ruby created a whirl-wind that pinned JNPR to the wall and assaulted them with all the food that had been caught in the gale.

“Oh Brothers! Those poor kids!” The brunette covered his mouth, hiding his amused smile as the four defeated students fell to the floor.

“JNPR’s fault for taking out Weiss first… Shoulda gone for Ruby.” Qrow muffled his laugh in his boyfriend’s shoulder as Glynda stormed into the cafeteria with a growl to start fixing things. 

No matter how many times he watched it, he still laughed at some parts of the recording. Honestly he remembered Summer getting defensive of Raven in combat more than once back at the Academy. Tai had been the same way with him. It was one of the reasons the twins had stuck around the two. Because they’d never been given that kind of protection, the feeling of safety even in battle, before but it also meant Ruby had inherited it from _both_ parents. They took team partnerships very seriously. JNPR had never stood a chance once Weiss went down. 

“That would have been helpful to know _before_ the fight!” Both men jumped at the shout, quickly turning to face Nora, who had stood up on the backs of two chairs and propped her fists on her hips so she could glare down at them. “We might have won if you’d warned us!”

“Thunderbolt, why would I tell you how to beat my nieces when I hadn’t even met you yet?” Qrow turned to fold both arms on the back of his chair and rested his chin on them. Amused crimson eyes stared up at the girl, a brow quirked as he waited for her response.

Nora pouted down at him, silently acknowledging the point, before she walked on the tops of the chairs to drop into the seat right behind him. The hunter noticed her expression soften into something more serious and waited for what she had to say as the other kids shuffled down to take seats around them. “I can’t believe you’ve had this the whole time…”

“...Wasn’t sure you guys were ready to see it honestly but… I wanted to offer so… I asked Clover if he could set this up…” Ruby leaned over to hug him around his waist while Weiss gave a slight nod. On the other side of Clover, Blake was holding onto Yang, both of them resting a hand on her metal arm.

“Thank you… Both of you…” Ren sat next to Nora, taking her hand in his own. Jaune sat on the other side of him with Oscar sitting uncertainly next to the blond. Penny had come down to sit beside Weiss, staring at the now blank screen with distant eyes. Qrow shifted when he put together what was probably going through her mind and both the girls on his side of the row moved to comfort her. 

“Could you… play it again for us? Please?” Jaune turned his eyes to both of them, blue filled with pain but also with joy at the memory. Marrow gave him a curious look from the other side of Oscar. The blond knight had shared a few stories of his Academy partner and the faunus was interested in learning more about her. There were murmurs of agreement from the others, each giving a voice to the desire to see the recording in full. 

“Sure thing, kids.” Qrow turned to restart the video, noticing that the second group at the back of the room had come inside to take seats as well. He smiled to himself as he started the recording over again. If this didn’t teach the Atlesians what kind of chaos and destruction they were housing in their delicate city, nothing would… 

~*~

Blake ran up the wall, launching off to grab the pink glass orb that Jaune had thrown to Ren out of the air. The training had progressed amazingly (according to Qrow and since he was teaching it they trusted his word) allowing their teacher to do some new lessons he had always wanted to try but hadn’t been able to. The current training session was RWBY against JNR+P(V2). The teams had been given a box of orbs with four different colors and a single shelf with four pedestals. The goal of each team was to steal one of each color from the opposite team and get it to the pedestal without it cracking or breaking while the team the orb belonged to tried to stop them. 

It reminded her a bit of the game of dodgeball but way more intense. 

On her team, her orbs were black, Ruby’s were red, Wiess had blue and Yang had orange. On the opposing team Juane had yellow, Nora had pink, Penny had green and Ren had white. JNR+P(V2) currently had a blue orb on their shelf. Her team’s shelf had a white orb. 

Rolling across the floor to soften the impact so the glass wouldn’t break, she looked for an opening to pass it to one of her teammate’s closer to the pedestals. Weiss leaped out of the fray between the teams and Blake tossed the orb with a grin. The former heiress summoned an ice glyph to send Nora sliding into a wall when the girl tried to tackle her and calmly caught the glass with a spin, twirling over to set it on the shelf. One step closer to winning. The two shared a vicious smile and jumped back into the fight. Winner got to go up against the Ace-Ops and they intended to win. 

~*~

Weiss shuffled her feet just outside the common room. She really wanted to ask Qrow a question but she also knew that the man was spending some (well deserved) time with Clover and she didn’t want to interrupt. She knew (was pretty sure) that Qrow wouldn’t mind, especially since he had inspired the idea that prompted the question. And Clover (probably) would mind either because it would better her as a huntress. Biting her bottom lip nervously, she quietly walked into the room, spotting the two in loose, comfortable clothes, on the couch immediately. 

Qrow was sitting on his hip at one end with his legs curled up and Clover was stretched out on the rest of the furniture, his back supported by Qrow’s leg and his head on the raven’s thigh. Qrow had propped his head on the arm of the couch with one hand and was absently running the fingers of the other hand through Clover’s hair, the man clearly on the verge of dozing off, while they watched a show that probably only held half their attention. She lifted a hand to cover her smile, ruthlessly squashing down the need to whip out her scroll and snap a picture. Calm raspberry colored eyes flicked over to her at the movement. She ducked her head and shuffled over to a chair when he tipped his head to invite her over.

“What’s up Princess?” His low rasp caused Clover’s eyes to crack open a bit and turn to her, checking to see if she was in distress. 

Weiss couldn’t help the rush of _something_ that flowed through her at their attention, the concern and care clearly visible. Still, at least one of those was unnecessary and she needed to let them know. “I had a question about my training… Something I thought… I might be able to try…?”

“Okay. What is it?”

“I was thinking… About how I weave my dust glyph with my summoning glyph…” The huntress clenched her hands together to stop the urge to fidget, pale blue eyes tracing the letters of a magazine left on the table. Probably by Elm or Yang by the look of it. “And I was wondering… If, maybe, possibly… I might be able to… weave a dust glyph… around a person?” She risked a glance up and saw nothing but interest and curiosity directed at her, allowing the rest of her words to fall without the hesitation she first showed. “I mean like I could put gravity glyphs on Blake’s feet and she could run all the way up a wall onto the ceiling, or a wind one on Ruby to make her _even faster_ or a lightning one on Nora to charge her up! That kind of thing… Do… do you think it would work?”

“I think if you take those empty spaces Winter used to complain about and shape them just right, it’s worth a shot to try it. You could give your teammates a huge boost if you can pull it off and powerful, skilled support fighters are severely lacking due to the solitary nature of most huntsmen.” It wasn’t Qrow who had answered her but Clover, who had turned on his side to view her clearly while she explained her idea, though the smile the lithe hunter had showed he agreed with his boyfriend’s opinion. "You could start by practicing on one of us when you think you’re ready for it okay? Just let us know.”

“I will… Thank you.” Weiss rose from her seat and tried very hard not to skip to her room. She’d take a few days to work out how to shape her glyphs and then ask for them to join her. In the meantime, she intended to let them have their together time. 

~*~

He looked peaceful, perched on the railing at the edge of the roof. The lights of the aurora shined in his eyes and lit up the angles of his face as he stared up at the colors. She’d worry about him falling since he had his feet braced on the bars while he leaned with his elbows on his knees, hands clasped loosely in front of him, if she didn’t know his trick in the event that his exceptional balance somehow failed. The wind was surprisingly light given how high they were, his cape fluttered but didn’t billow behind him. She wasn’t about to complain about it though. She ran hot like her dad and wasn’t much bothered by it but he didn’t like the cold, despite the amount of time he spent outside.

Lilac eyes flicked away as she continued her ascent, knowing he would hear her coming long before she announced her presence. “Whatcha thinkin’ about Uncle Qrow?” The question was quiet, almost whispered as she came to lean on the railing beside him, close enough that he would be able to feel her heat.

“Oz… The story that Jinn told us…” His voice was as soft as her own but there was none of the usual amount of betrayal and anger lurking in the tone. Instead it was gentle. Thoughtful.

She still frowned at the mention of her old headmaster. She didn’t really want to talk about the man who had lied to her and her friends, to her family long before that. Still, if anyone had a right to be angry, it was the man beside her. Qrow had given up so much to complete the dangerous missions he was constantly being assigned. If he needed to talk, she would listen. 

“I’ve calmed down a lot since we learned the truth, you know? And I’m thinking more clearly now that I stopped drinking and…” Qrow shifted in place, taking the verbal leap of faith that his niece would listen to what he had to say before storming off to destroy a training room. “I realized that no matter what happens he can never win.”

“What?” Of all the things her uncle could have said, that was not one on her list. Since she hadn’t seen it coming she didn’t have any argument for it. And she couldn’t ready one without understanding what he meant by it.

“Just… Stop and think about it okay?” Qrow tossed her a quick look before returning his gaze to the myriad of lights. “The Brothers were at war until they reached an agreement for balance between them. Then the Brother of Light tasked Ozma with creating permanent peace between the humans. If the relics are brought together before he achieves that goal, humanity is destroyed but if he succeeds… Peace and war are the equivalent of life and death on a greater scale. Which means if he _does_ obtain peace for humanity he tips the balance in Light’s favor, disrupting the balance they agreed on and restarting the war between them.”

“And humanity becomes a casualty. We’ll still be destroyed…” Yang concluded for him, coming to the same realization that he had, even if he had led her to it. She admired the fact that he’d been calm enough, clear headed enough, to figure it all out on his own while everyone else focused solely on how to win against Salem. 

Simply put, Ozma had been given an unfair and ultimately impossible task.

It was a lose-lose no matter what he did and she wondered how long ago he’d figured it out. If that realization was why he’d become the hermit that first created the maidens. It would explain why he’d sacrificed the magic he had even more to create the vaults to hold the relics.

He’d never intended for them to be brought together.

It was for the best honestly. But they still had to deal with Salem. Jinn had said she’d regain her mortality if she learned the lesson the Brothers had tried to teach her but if she hadn’t learned it by now then there likely wasn’t much chance of her ever learning it. Which left them trying to figure out another way to deal with the threat of an immortal witch Grimm hell bent on world destruction.

Sighing deeply, the brawler leaned more heavily on the rail, watching the lights dance across the night sky with her uncle. At least they had managed to get through to the General so that things were improving in Mantle, even if it meant a longer timeframe for the Amity tower. Now they just needed to find a way to make some kind of peace with Robyn and things would be going in their favor for once.


End file.
